Near the beginning of the month, I bookmarked a post I found on Tumblr called "September advice for the signs." I'm not a big believer in astrology or the zodiac signs, but I still find them interesting to read. I myself am a Scorpio. I stumbled across the post again the other day and realized that I had unknowingly followed its advice.Scorpio: You are pure and beautiful, and I miss your sweet obsidian smile and lyrical tongue. Find yourself a home.
And find myself a [new] home I did. (I'm counting the days.) I'm sure October has a lot in store for me as well.

Some things I've enjoyed this month:

– The Mindy Project is back! Mindy Kaling has a great sense of humor, and I'll never understand why more people don't watch this show.

– "A little bit more than just a new 'do"... a piece about the ties society sets between beauty and having long hair, and how you can feel just as beautiful and even more liberated when you chop it off. I absolutely loved it from beginning to end.

– I definitely had Rachel Platten's new single Stand By You on repeat for probably ten days straight.

– A great video, "Why Not Choose Kindness"... because why not? "You are the first and last 'you' who will ever exist in all of human history. And you are lovable, and it's such a shame to think anything but." Tessa Violet is a lovely human.

– My friend Jade is one the most ambitious people I know, and I'm very proud of her for chasing her dreams. She recently moved into a studio apartment in the city (and started a blog about it). When I visited, we were able to squeeze Shake Shack, Dylan's Candy Bar, and Sprinkles all into one day. Amazing.

– This perfect response to Jenna Fischer's tweet (and if you don't get the joke, then you need to start living your life the right way by watching all of The Office ASAP):

My apologies for the cheesy title, but lately it really does feel like that's exactly what I'm on. Here's a little rundown of how my life took a 180 in just one week (in a good way):

MONDAY: I decided to start looking at apartments online. Nothing too serious, no rush.WEDNESDAY: I scheduled an apartment showing and contacted a few other places.SATURDAY: My parents and I looked at a couple of places.SUNDAY: Applied for an apartment.TUESDAY: Approved!

I guess when I get excited about things, I really dive right in. Even I didn't see this one coming.

So, it's official. In three and a half weeks, I will be moving into a place of my own. My first apartment. It's a little daunting, but even more than that, it's exciting. It will push me a little out of my comfort zone, especially since I've always been pretty against living alone. I already have mental floor plans and decoration ideas floating around in my head.

Here's to impulsive decisions that are a little bit crazy but make life a little more fun. Cheers.

To be honest, I'm not sure of the origin of this quote — whether it's from someone famous or whether an average Joe said it to his friend and it somehow spread all over the Internet. Who knows. But I've seen it a lot, and I find a sort of odd comfort in it. Reassurance. It's okay that this happened.
I've lost a fair amount of people over the years. Maybe it was my fault, maybe it was theirs. More than likely it was a little bit of both.

Some people just don't mesh.

Others are just plain mean.

Losing friends is certainly not one of the finer parts of life, but it's one of the most normal, and it does help us grow. There's some truth in the saying. As we get older, we develop into our own person and become our own selves. We figure out what we want and don't want out of life and out of the people we surround ourselves with. We make goals and aspirations. It's rare that you can do all of this while simultaneously being as close to your elementary school friends as you once were. Sometimes it happens, but it's normal if it doesn't.